


Quintessential Earth Culture Experiences

by dizzy



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-18
Updated: 2009-11-18
Packaged: 2017-10-03 07:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vala's only trying to expand her knowledge of her new home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quintessential Earth Culture Experiences

Quintessential Earth Culture Experiences. That's what Vala calls these trips. She'll drop flyers in Cam's office, leave them sitting on his chair before he gets to the briefing room, hover while he reads them and then launch into her rather persuasive arguments as to why she absolutely needs to go to this place, as soon as possible.

Today it's the roller rink. He puts up a nominal fight, but only because she's cute when she begs.

"Cameron! I've purchased the necessary equipment, for both myself and for you." She says, grabbing onto his arm when he turns to make his way down the corridor to Carter's lab. He's got to check in with her on the weird glowy doohickey they found last week. Mostly he needs something to call it besides weird glowy doohickey when he sits down to write his report.

"You purchased?" He raised an eyebrow at Vala.

She waves her hand. "Fine, Daniel purchased."

Oh, she definitely knows what buttons to push. Jackson will no doubt come at him with a stream of complains when he gets his credit card bill, the same old story. It's way more entertaining than it should be.

He's also calculated exactly how much refusing he has to do in order to extract the response he wants from Vala when he finally says yes.

"Fine." He says, crossing his arms. "Three hours, on Saturday. That's all you get."

She throws her arms around his neck, grinning against his shoulder. Yep, test successful, once again.

*

"Have you ever been roller skating?" She asks him, practically vibrating with excited energy. He loves how enthusiastic she still is. He's pretty sure if he'd lived through half of what she has, he wouldn't be able to find so much joy in life.

"Not since I was ten. Did I mention you're crazy, by the way?" He watches the children whizzing by on the huge, polished wood floor in front of them. "You're actually gonna do that? You'll bust your head open."

"Now, now." She leans against him, arm hooked through his. "Aren't you the one always telling me how hard my head is?"

"True." He rolls his eyes.

"Besides, I'm not doing it alone." She says, and finds a table to sit down at, opening the gym bag she'd brought with her. She pulls out two sets of skates, hot pink in her size and army green in his. "You're going to skate, too."

"Oh, no, nuh-uh. That wasn't the deal. Vala, I have no desire to make a fool of myself out there." He puts his hands down on the table, and instantly regrets it. They are in the food area, and some lovely young creature has seen fit to spill something sticky all over the surface.

Her eyes widen and he knows she's working her way up to an epic pout. He tries to forestall it, but somehow ten minutes later he finds himself standing shakily on a pair of roller skates anyway, still cursing her.

He has actually skated before, at least. It takes him a few seconds but he finds his balance, going back and forth a few feet. She takes longer tying hers, long enough that he looks down to see her. He's surprised to find that she actually looks a little bit nervous. Her fingers are fumbling with the strings even though they are already neatly tied.

"Come on, scaredy cat." He reaches down and grabs her hand, pulling her up.

She looks affronted. "I'm not a skertyat. What is that?"

"Scared-y. Cat." He enunciates. "Means you're chicken."

Her brow furrows even more. "Cat? Chicken? Aren't those farm animals?"

"Well, a cat isn't a farm animal."

"But that man in the song has one."

"What?"

She starts to sing. "Old McDonald-"

"You've been watching Sesame Street again, haven't you? Cats can live on farms, but not just farms. They're domesticated - they're pets. And you aren't sidetracking me. You wanted to skate, let's skate." He gives her a firm tug, since her hands are still in his, and she rolls toward him... and into him. His hands go to her waist to steady her.

She winks at him and rolls forward again, chest bumping his.

He laughs. "Vala..."

"What?" She gives him a perfectly innocent expression.

He isn't fooled, of course.

"Let's skate."

*

Despite the last minute cold feet, she actually catches on pretty quickly. Thirty minutes in, she's whizzing by him, laughing as he pigtails flutter with the movement.

Cam takes it slow most of the time, but every few laps she makes he'll surge forward in a burst of speed and chase her. That delights her, makes her shriek with laughter... especially when he catches her. He wraps his arms around her and their skates inevitably tangle together and they go down in a heap.

Children are darting and swerving around them. Cam has horrible visions of being run over by a horde of roller bound eight year olds, so he groans and rolls Vala off of him.

"Break time." He announces, rubbing his knee and helping her up. She recovers more quickly than he does, dragging him toward the food area. He switches to rubbing his calf as he sits down. Vala's still standing beside him, hand on the back of the booth to keep her standing. He can't really blame her. His own legs feel like jello, and he's really surprised at how much of a workout two hours of skating has been. "Damn, I'm gonna have a cramp tomorrow."

"I'll help you rub it out." She says, and wobbles again. He reaches out and snags her around the waist, pulling her to sit in his lap.

"You looked like you were about to fall." He offers an explanation, though she hasn't really asked.

She looks pleased, and like she doesn't buy it at all. She shouldn't, of course. It's a total lie.

She rests her head on his shoulder. She smells nice, fresh and clean. "Cameron?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I have five dollars?"

He's not sure what he was expecting her to ask, but that wasn't it. "What?"

"I've got a craving for some of that - what do you call it? With the butter and the salt and the... popcorn, that's it. Doesn't popcorn sound lovely? I want some. And some ice cream. And - those chewy things Samantha had the other day, in the little bear shapes. And-"

Cam is already digging in his pocket. He pulls out a ten and hands it to her to shut her up. "Go crazy. Get us drinks, too."

"Beer?" She says, excited.

"Not beer. I don't think they even sell beer here. It's kind of a kid place. We don't usually sell alcoholic beverages in places largely directed at children."

"All right." She sounds a little bit disappointed.

"But hey, we can stop for beer on the way home." He says, watching her, wanting that smile back. "I got you cleared for the whole weekend. We can pick up a case on the way back to my place."

Oh yeah, there's that smile. "I get to stay with you all night?"

_With you._ Not get to stay out, not get to stay off base, but get to stay with you. That makes his stomach flip in very, very dangerous ways. His fingers play with the end of one pigtail and he nods. "Yeah."

He sees that look she's giving him, but somehow he still isn't expecting the kiss she places on his mouth. She's up and off to get her food before he even realizes it happened.


End file.
